Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Blue Sunshine

Director Jeff Lieberman made this one after
"Squirm", which is inarguably the best film about killer earthworms ever
made. I watched this effort, "Blue Sunshine", many years ago and had
vaguely positive memories of it. I must have been on drugs. With the credits we meet some
seemingly random people in various domestic situations losing their
tempers and making crazy eyes in extreme close-up. The mother ranting
about chocolate pudding is worth a giggle, maybe. Next we wander over to
a totally un-swinging party where we hang out with Brion James, back
before he failed the tortoise test as a replicant in Blade Runner. He
does his impression of Godzilla's flying buddy Rodan. Yes, really.
Unfortunately, this is the third best moment in the film, and Mr. James'
only appearance in it. Then we are treated to some pre-karaoke karaoke,
which inevitably leads to making out, which inevitably leads to some
dude getting his hair pulled right off, which inevitably leads to more
crazy eyes in extreme close-up. Baldy runs out into the night looking
like a cut-rate Nosferatu.
Turns out they're partying in a cabin in the woods. No way that could go wrong.

Zippy The Pinhead

Soon Jerry Zipman (Zalman "Red Shoe Diaries" King), known to his
friends as Zippy, wanders off into the woods alone with a flashlight to
look for his friend. Three lovely young women are left alone in the
cabin. Thirteen minutes in, we get some serious crazy going at last.
Baldy returns, having left the remainder of his sanity off in the woods
somewhere. A woman gets stuffed in a fireplace, and an all-around crappy
party takes a turn for the worse. Baldy can be accused of many things,
but being a feminist is not one of them. This is a relatively
mean-spirited kill scene. I have high hopes at this point, but it turns
out that this is pretty much the peak of the movie in terms of horror.
Zippy's response to the situation when he returns to the cabin
doesn't really help matters. Due to some aggressively dim-witted behavior
on his part, Zippy is blamed for the crimes. Soon he is on the run
with a bullet lodged in his body. He flees from the police and
investigates on his own, because that is what innocent people do in
movies. In his travels he finds more and more instances of people losing
their hair and going on killing sprees. He visits one of the crime
scenes around 34 minutes in and goes a little loco himself, temporarily.
Also, there is a parrot. Along the way he spots a poster with the words Blue Sunshine on it
and a picture of a young hippy type. He recognizes a younger version of
aspiring congressman Ed Flemming, aka actor Mark Goddard, aka Major Don
West from Lost in Space. Zippy finds el jefe and asks about "Blue
Sunshine" but the candidate ain't talking. A very brief and silly car
chase ensues. We're 47 minutes in. I am bored.
But... what's this? Surgery? Are my dark, unwholesome prayers to be
answered? I have a feeling we're going to witness the mother of all
malpractice suits in the making. And... nothing. Really, movie? REALLY?
You tease.
Anyway, Zippy is slowly, slooooooowly figuring out the plot. It
turns out that back at Stanford all the nutters partook of a batch of
LSD named "Blue Sunshine". Unfortunately, this formula causes you to
lose your hair and turn homicidal ten years after you take it. You
shoulda stuck to the Owsley White Lightning, brah, it was hella clean.
Around 1 hour 3 minutes in, a harried mother listens to her spawn
shouting like the little barbarians they are. Unable to cope with the
stress, she gobbles mother's little helpers, contemplates homicide with
pill dust flaking off her face, peels off her hair, and goes all creepy
looking. Stares at the shiny kitchen knives. Shiny. Shiny. If only these
creepy little moments weren't spaced so far apart, they might have had
something here. I'm going to respect this movie a lot more if they have
the balls to kill off the tots... but, predictably, no. Our hero steps
in for the rescue. Total weaksauce. And Zippy, through his incredibly
stupid behavior, gets blamed again.
Around 1 hour 24 minutes in, we finally get something resembling
real entertainment. The senator's ex-linebacker bodyguard loses his
hair, with scraps of it hanging off like he's gone punk as fuck. He
moves like he's channeling the spirit of Frankenstein's monster. Our
giant Johnny-Rotten-wannabe sure seems to hate disco, which turns out to
be the key to his defeat. I can't tell if he's dancing or suffering,
but either way it works. Second best sequence in the movie, maybe the
best, but not because it's scary.
Politico Flemming is confronted with the knowledge that his youthful
LSD hijinks have killed his wife and warped the minds of his best
friends. Bummer, man. Zippy has a showdown with the brain-melted
bodyguard in an abandoned department store. Zippy gets knocked down.
Zippy shoots the bad guy. Some text on the screen informs us that there
are still 255 tabs of Blue Sunshine out there that have never been
accounted for. Roll credits. A weak ending to a weak film, but there
were a few good moments. If you watch it, don't be shy about using your
fast-forward, because you won't actually miss anything.Reviewed by GS